Maybe ... could be

Labor Day Weekend is straight ahead - a marker normally signaling the true start of an American presidential campaign when typical citizens take a few minutes to actually notice their immediate environment.

This year it’s already over. Done. Finished. Gone.

Even as his national polling averages started their death spiral in late July, Donald Trump now calls Hillary Clinton a flat out “bigot” and predicts he will get 95% of the African American vote when he runs for reelection in 2020.

And maybe deportation squads won’t boot out all 11.5 million “illegal immigrants” on Inauguration Day after all. Or possibly so. He’ll decide that when he needs to. Maybe. Could be.

Donald Trump has become a “Chuck Berry Existentialist.”

“Sometimes I will and again sometimes I won’t ... sometimes I do and again sometimes I don’t.” “Reelin’ & Rockin’” - Chuck Berry (1957).

Trump is understandably convinced by their addled adulation that his core supporters will endorse anything he does, says or thinks - everything he dreams, schemes or screams. This would appear tragically true.

After saying “You’re fired” to campaign manager Corey Lewandowski on June 20, Trumpty-Dumpty just repeated the same thing to Paul Manafort on Aug. 19, then immediately appointed Steve Bannon as his new “Campaign Chief Executive Officer” - a title which has never existed before in the history of any party.

Bannon’s been running Breitbart, an extreme right-wing news and opinion website. A former Breitbart employee and mainstream conservative favorite, Ben Shapiro, has gone on record stating “Bannon is a nasty, vindictive figure, infamous for verbally abusing supposed friends and threatening enemies.”

Even so, Ms. Conway found herself in a difficult position last Sunday when Chris Wallace asked her on FOX News whether Trump had acted properly in response to the horrid shooting death in Chicago of Nykea Aldridge, a mother of four and cousin of NBA star Dwyane Wade.

Learning of the travesty, Trump hastily tweeted: “Just what I’ve been saying. African-Americans will VOTE TRUMP!” Avoiding direct response, Kellyanne suggested we should all remember Trump did add his condolences in a new tweet a full four hours later.

And how will Campaign Manager Conway get along with CEO Bannon? Said Kelly to Chris: “Donald Trump chose me to run his campaign. I report directly to him.”

I still hold out hope that our Fourth District Congressional Representative, Tom McClintock, will finally ditch Donald. It seems Tom’s apparent certainty over gaining an easy fifth term in Congress, running as a Republican in this crimson red district, overshadows any need to be noble in the classic and classy sense of this word, i.e., “Having or showing fine personal qualities or high moral principles and ideals.”

There is a determined ‘David’ running against McClintock’s grinning ‘Goliath.’

Dr. Robert Derlet grew up in a working class Los Angeles neighborhood, selling newspapers to traffic at Santa Monica and Vine in Hollywood when he was eight. School and summer work continued through college with Bob handling jobs ranging from construction to cattle ranching and working in a merchant ship boiler room. He can handle the heat.

He eventually graduated with highest honors from John Marshall High School and the University of California, Santa Cruz, being the first in his family to attend a four-year college.

After completing medical studies, Dr. Derlet spent his career as a Professor and Chief of Emergency Medicine at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, serving two terms as chief of staff.

Contemplating retirement and wanting to live year-round near the Sierra Nevada, Dr. Derlet moved to Twain Harte five years ago and became a front-line primary care physician at a rural health clinic in Tuolumne City. Listening to the struggles of patients trying to navigate a complex health care system while staying economically afloat galvanized him to run for Congress as our Democratic candidate in the Fourth District.

Dr. Derlet will be speaking this Saturday in a special Labor Day Weekend meeting of the Oakhurst Democratic Club at Denny’s on Highway 41 with breakfast at 8:30 a.m., and our program at 9:30.

Along with Bob Derlet will be another Bob - Robert Carabas - running for the Fifth California District Assembly seat currently occupied by Frank Bigelow.

Carabas, a graduate of UC Berkley with a degree in English, is the father of two and grandfather of five. A retired corporate credit manager from Sonora, this Bob’s particular area of concern is Global Warming.